July 24, 2016

R&P News reports that Sumitomo Rubber Industries is adding truck tire capacity at its 3-year-old plant in Fazenda Rio Grande, Brazil. The company will spend $96 million to add capacity for 500 u/d of truck tires, with production to begin in March 2019. Another $54 million will be spent to expand capacity for car and light truck tires.

July 21, 2016

On July 20, Evonik Industries announced that it had started up its new precipitated silica plant in Americana (São Paulo) Brazil. The plant focuses on highly dispersible silica used mainly for high-quality, low rolling resistance tires. In addition, the plant will serve various specialty silica segments, including the food, animal feed, and agricultural industries. Evonik has not disclosed the capacity of the new plant or the total investment, though it did say the project budget was in the “mid-double-digit euro range.”

In a company press release, Dr. Johannes Ohmer, member of Evonik’s Board of Management of the Resource Efficiency Segment, said: “The new plant in Americana now enables us to offer our products and solutions to our Brazilian and regional customers as well. Thanks to our dependability, outstanding services, and top-quality products, we provide customized solutions.”

July 15, 2016

Earlier this month, Tokai Carbon announced a restructuring plan for its Chinese carbon black business, Tokai Carbon (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. The plant will remove one production line, reducing capacity from 110,000 tons to 70,000 tons. Some of the related facilities to the production line will also be optimized for less energy operation. In addition, remaining production at the plant will focus more on special carbon black products, which are high value added products. These changes are expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

The restructuring plan was approved at a Board of Directors meeting on June 23, 2016.

July 7, 2016

Notch has received word that, effective July 1st, 2016, Sid Richardson Carbon is charging a fee of $0.01 per pound for hopper truck shipments and $0.02 for hopper car shipments. According to the company, these fees are needed to cover the expenses associated with each type of shipment. This includes inspection, cleaning and preparation of the vessel as well as the testing of the multiple samples taken during the loading procedure. Fees also support the company’s continued investment in its hopper car fleet. The fees will applied as contracts allow. For more information on these adjustments contact Sid Richardson at CarbonBlack@sidrich.com or 330-666-2777 (Akron sales office).